PHOTO BOMB!

I can’t help it!!

The three of us went to the playground the other day and they were just so cute and I got some sweet pictures of them!

I’m gonna be “THAT” parent and photo bomb you!  Feel free to skip this if you aren’t into it….but it’s YOUR loss!!  😉

He LOVES the slide!!

 

My little model baby!

 

I can’t get enough of this one! It’s amazing how much Caleb loves his sister!! This was her first time down the slide! Caleb held her all the way down! (Don’t worry, I had my hand on them too! 🙂

 

This was the first time she swung on the swing! She LOVED it!!

 

Caleb wanted so badly to push his sister on the swing! He got a little over zealous at times, but he did pretty well! So sweet!

 

Look at those CHUBBY thighs!! With everything she’s been through I NEVER thought I would see chub on her! Thank you God for healing my sweet baby!

 

I can’t get enough of that sweet face!

 

 

 

 

I am a Color Runner!

In my last post I was talking about how excited I was for the Color Run.

Well, I did it!!!  And it was a BLAST!!

I walked much more than I would have liked, but I did the whole thing.  See, while I was “training” at home I was running on all flat surfaces.  Miller Park has lots of hills!  This was something I was not expecting or prepared for.  So I walked all the hills!

Next year…..next year I will RUN the WHOLE thing!  I’m going to start training NOW for next year!  🙂

We had so much fun!  My sister and her friend ran it with me.  They are in great shape and at least 100 pounds LIGHTER than me, so I encouraged them to run ahead of me and I’d meet them at the finish line!  But we did the first 3K together – they were great sports and just wanted us to have fun together.

Wendy, Jeni and I all clean and white!

 

My sister and I painted our nails the night before to get into the spirit!

 

We also decorated her Jeep with colored ribbons!

 

After the run and Finish Line Festival. Every 15 minutes there is a big color throw. MORE color! It was fantastic!

 

This baby is getting framed!

 

Oh yea! That’s a lot of color!

 

This is how the parking lot looked the NEXT DAY! AFTER being cleaned up! I LOVE it!!

All in all a FANTABULOUS experience!  My mom even got in on the fun!  She was throwing color at the 3K marker!

We can’t wait until next year!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lightening it up….

I have been so wonderfully overwhelmed by comments, messages and emails about my last blog post Lost.  I am not alone!  WE are not alone.  I have some ideas brewing about follow up to that, but tonight I am way too tired to formulate those ideas into what I want them to be, so…….

Let’s lighten it up just a bit!

I’m doing a 5K in ONE WEEK!!  The Color Run!!

At each K they throw a new color powder on you!  So, by the end, you are a beautiful, crazy rainbow of color!  How fun does that sound?????

I’M SO EXCITED!!!!

I saw this on facebook in June.  I sent the info to my sister because I knew it was something she would love.  I was tempted to do it, but needed a push.

See, I DO NOT RUN!!! I have never run!!!  Even in gym in school, this girl, right here, did NOT run.  I don’t believe in running!  I thought people who voluntarily ran for exercise or ENJOYMENT {shudder} had a couple of screws loose!

That was 8 weeks ago.

My sister was determined to do it, with or without anyone else.  Ya know how I said I was interested but needed a push?  Well, I wasn’t going to let her have all the fun!

So, we registered!

And then I freaked!!

You don’t HAVE to run this.  This 5K is all about silly, crazy fun.  But I didn’t want to just drag along for 3 miles and take forever to do it.

If I decide to do something, I’m going to DO IT!

So I downloaded the “Couch to 5K” app and started “training”!  It breaks up your time into running and walking intervals.  I could not even do all the running intervals the first couple days!  I COULD NOT RUN FOR ONE MINUTE!!!

SERIOUSLY!

I am so in awe that I am doing this!

I will even say…….{GULP!}……..that I look forward to running!!!

WHO SAID THAT????

I actually did!

It’s great stress relief, it’s a little time to myself a couple times per week, and it’s changing my body in good ways!  And it’s given me some time to pray and convince myself that God is still with me when I’m wheezing, dripping, and my legs feel like they just can’t move one more step.  God has helped me to take one more step, and another, and another….until that beautiful voice on my app says, “Slow down and walk”!

I’ve tried to use that analogy in my daily life too.  “God is with me.  I can take another step toward/for/in……..  Keep going!  Don’t stop yet.  That voice to rest IS coming, but for now, God, help me take another step!”

I’m going to keep running after this is over!

And one week from tonight I will be covered in glorious colored powder and will have CONQUERED a 5K!  Some will be run, some WILL be walked, but I will FINISH!  And it will be a BLAST!

Big Brothers are IMPORTANT!

On Tuesday we took Caleb to a “Big Kids and New Siblings” class at the hospital.  As I’ve written about before, I have some concerns with how to prepare and help Caleb through this transition of not being an only child anymore.  He’s been the only kid with all the attention for four years!  It’s going to be a bit of a jolt for him at first I would imagine!

So, we took him to this class and it was just TOO PRECIOUS!!  We had to borrow a baby doll from a friend for the class and he learned how to put on a diaper, swaddle her, feed her and burp her.  I don’t know how much of that he will actually be doing with baby girl right away, but he “knows” how to do it now and can be a great helper!

They talked about how the baby will cry a lot at first and why; that there will be times we need to do quiet activities when the baby is sleeping; and how important they are as the big sibling.

Caleb was SO into this class!!  My heart was just overwhelmed to watch him get so excited and into it!  He wanted to do everything for “his baby”.

We also got to go see a labor and delivery room and post-partum room so the kids knew where mommy and baby would be staying for a few days and where they would be visiting.  Caleb seemed to get quite a kick out of the big whirlpool tub in the labor and deliver room!

It’s still hard to wrap my head around the fact that I will have TWO kids in just a couple months!  But I know Caleb is going to be an AMAZING Big Brother!!

 

He’s a BIG BOY now!

***I apologize in advance…I got a little “Instagram” happy….but I couldn’t resist photo documenting this momentous occasion!

Saturday was a big day in the life of my little man!  And a little bit of an emotional one for mommy.

Caleb has been sleeping in the toddler bed of his convertible crib.  Obviously, in a few short months, he will need to vacate said toddler bed so Baby Bubbles has somewhere to sleep.

Caleb does not take too well to change.  He is VERY into routine and having things right where they go.  (Except when it comes to putting toys away….then it doesn’t matter one little bit where his things are strewn about!)  For example, sometimes he likes to bring a toy upstairs to his room while we read a story before bed.  Well, that toy MUST be taken downstairs after he’s tucked in.  NOTHING can be left in his room that doesn’t belong!  He is VERY minimalist when it comes to his room!

So, I’ve been working on mentioning this change of sleeping arrangements to him for the last several months to get him ready.  He was not liking the idea at all.  He didn’t understand why he had to give up HIS bed!  And didn’t seem to like one bit that it was because of this baby that things had to change!

Well, not only does he need to change beds, but we needed to rearrange the room to fit everything in.

WHOA! I smelled a disaster coming with that one!!  So, needless to say, I was a bit nervous about this whole switch over.

However……we did it, and…..HE LOVES IT!!!!

I have never seen him like this!  He got to help daddy put the bed together with his own tools.  We took him to Target so he could pick out his own sheets and blanket all by himself…WHICH HE LOVED!!

Working SOOOOO hard!

Helping daddy with the tools HE bought that day with his OWN money from Grama!

Still working away!

The past {SNIFF!}....and the present!

We have APPROVAL!! (His old blanket would suffice until we went to the store for his new stuff!) But he just HAD to try it out before we went to the store!

The finished product! (At least until we get crib bedding for our little girl!) I forgot to mention...he hates pillows and won't sleep with one, so that's why it's laying on the floor!

He was literally bouncing off the walls ALL NIGHT with excitement.  He slept WONDERFULLY in his bed all night….especially after all the energy he expels from excitement!

He then started asking if the baby would be sleeping in the room with him that night.  Because, after all, his bed is up, the crib is now vacant, why wouldn’t the baby be sleeping with him now??

So, I explained to him that the baby wouldn’t be here until it was colder, and a while after Christmas.  And even then she will sleep in Mommy and Daddy’s room for a while before she sleeps in the crib in his room.

To this he replied…..

wait for it…..

wait for it….

“But I want the baby to sleep in here with me now.  I love her!”

O GOOD LORD, MELT MY HEART AND TURN ME INTO A PUDDLE OF TEARS!!!!

Too precious for words!!

(We will see how he feels once she IS here and waking him up all night….)

So, I am SO happy he LOVES his big boy bed and is excited to have the baby sleeping in his room with him.  He didn’t have any issues with moving everything around and has really gotten into this whole idea of being a “Big Boy” now!

My sweet little angel….growing up too fast!